Jehoash Repairs the Temple
1 In the seventh year of Jehu,Jehoash became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s namewasZibiah of Beersheba.
2 Jehoash didwhatwasright in the sight of theLordall the days in whichJehoiada the priest instructed him.
3 Butthe high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
4 And Jehoash said to the priests,“All the money of the dedicated gifts that are brought into the house of theLord—each man’scensus money, each man’sassessment money—andall the money that a manpurposes in his heart to bring into the house of theLord,
5 let the priests takeitthemselves, each from his constituency; and let them repair the damages of the temple, wherever any dilapidation is found.”
6 Now it was so, by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash,thatthe priests had not repaired the damages of the temple.
7 So King Jehoash called Jehoiada the priest and theotherpriests, and said to them, “Why have you not repaired the damages of the temple? Now therefore, do not takemoremoney from your constituency, but deliver it for repairing the damages of the temple.”
8 And the priests agreed that they would neither receivemoremoney from the people, nor repair the damages of the temple.
9 Then Jehoiada the priest tooka chest, bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of theLord; and the priests who kept the door putthere all the money brought into the house of theLord.
10 So it was, whenever they saw thattherewasmuch money in the chest, that the king’sscribe and the high priest came up and put it in bags, and counted the money that was found in the house of theLord.
11 Then they gave the money, which had been apportioned, into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of theLord; and they paid it out to the carpenters and builders who worked on the house of theLord,
12 and to masons and stonecutters, and for buying timber and hewn stone, torepair the damage of the house of theLord, and for all that was paid out to repair the temple.
13 Howeverthere were not made for the house of theLordbasins of silver, trimmers, sprinkling-bowls, trumpets, any articles of gold or articles of silver, from the money brought into the house of theLord.
14 But they gave that to the workmen, and they repaired the house of theLordwith it.
15 Moreoverthey did not require an account from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to be paid to workmen, for they dealt faithfully.
16 The money from the trespass offerings and the money from the sin offerings was not brought into the house of theLord.It belonged to the priests.
Hazael Threatens Jerusalem
17 Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath, and took it; thenHazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem.
18 And Jehoash king of Judahtook all the sacred things that his fathers, Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own sacred things, and all the gold found in the treasuries of the house of theLordand in the king’s house, and sentthemto Hazael king of Syria. Then he went away from Jerusalem.
Death of Joash
19 Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did,arethey not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
20 Andhis servants arose and formed a conspiracy, and killed Joash in the house of the Millo, which goes down to Silla.
21 For Jozachar the son of Shimeath and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him. So he died, and they buried him with his fathers in the City of David. ThenAmaziah his son reigned in his place.